Mike Conley first met Nickeil Alexander-Walker when they were teammates with the Utah Jazz.

As a young player playing for a good team at the time, Alexander-Walker had few opportunities on the field. This was disappointing for Alexander-Walker, and Conley remembers him being upset in the locker room that he wasn’t playing.

“I said: ‘Dude, I swear to you, brother, if you keep doing what you’re doing.’ “He would come in at 7 a.m. and not leave until 3 a.m., doing things like stretching and yoga,” Conley said. “Like, ‘If you stay consistent like this, I guarantee you’ll get an opportunity and be able to take advantage of it.'”

That’s exactly what happened when the Timberwolves acquired Conley and Alexander-Walker from the Jazz. Alexander-Walker quickly became a key role player in Minnesota and has continued to improve since playing for the Wolves.

There was no better example of the impact Alexander-Walker had on Wolves than Friday night. 119-116 win Over the Denver Nuggets. In the final three minutes of the game, Alexander-Walker hit two 3-pointers, two steals and a pair of free throws as the Wolves rallied from a 10-point deficit to grab an improbable victory.

“He’s a very demanding player,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of Alexander-Walker after the game. “He’s got really good defensive instincts; he’s got a handle on a lot of things. We trust him to make big shots on offense, and he also gives us another handler, which is a bonus.”

Finch’s history with Alexander-Walker also goes back further than his days in Minnesota. Finch was the assistant head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans when Alexander-Walker was drafted to New Orleans in 2019. Finch recalls the struggles of his early career and sees a player determined to do things a certain way to the point where he can’t. listening.

“(Alexander-Walker) tends to overthink and is hard on himself when he overthinks things, so a lot of the honesty we have is going back to basics and reminding him how much he’s done for us. Finch from the home opener against the Toronto Raptors he said before.

Alexander-Walker spent this offseason working on improving the point guard position because the Wolves didn’t have another true point guard on the roster behind Conley. But Karl-Anthony Towns’ blockbuster trade to the New York Knicks brought in Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, giving the Wolves more ball-handling players. During the preseason, Alexander-Walker’s focus was still on playing the game, but Finch eventually asked him to get back to what he is best at.

“An intelligent person, the moment you have that conversation, it works,” Finch said. “But a few years ago he wouldn’t have been like that. He would have fought you because he wanted it so bad.”

Alexander-Walker was excellent during the regular season, and Finch said after Friday night’s win that he played the best and most consistent basketball on the team. This led to Finch playing Alexander-Walker at crucial time on Friday and even calling the play for him; Alexander-Walker made the most of this opportunity and led Wolves to victory.

“It means a lot, especially in the fourth,” Alexander-Walker said of Finch calling his number. “And me and Finchy have come a long way. And I’ll take whatever I can get, so for me it’s definitely like a passing of the torch. It’s like we’ve gone to another level. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s also about winning.”

Conley saw the work Alexander-Walker put in with the Jazz and continued to see him improve with the Wolves. Part of this evolution was in his mindset. Conley described Alexander-Walker as a perfectionist, but someone who can dial it down, forget about mistakes and focus on the next play. Alexander-Walker was allowed to play for free.

He played freely on Friday night, found crucial defenders and scored all eight of his points in the most meaningful minutes of the game. Alexander-Walker also posted a game-best plus-minus of plus-27.

“(Friday) was one of the first days in a long time that I didn’t have any courage going into that game,” Alexander-Walker said. “I was a little worried about it because it was like, I don’t want to just show up calmly and act nonchalant, but I can really feel the confidence in my work and the confidence in my faith in God. For me, I needed to stop worrying about the outcome because it’s consistent for me every day and probably for myself.” and for a greater purpose outside of my family, it was the most focused and driven day I have ever experienced in my life.